The invention herein relates to portable devices for igniting charcoal or charcoal briquets. It is of particular use with ordinary home barbecues.
There are a number of ways to ignite the charcoal in a conventional barbecue. Most commonly a layer of charcoal or charcoal briquets is laid in the bottom of the barbecue pan, soaked with an inflammable fluid, and the fluid ignited. The fluid is consumed rapidly, and as much of the heat is dissipated, the degree of ignition of the charcoal is often poor. Electrical resistance heating devices may also be inserted in charcoal beds, but they serve to ignite only those briquets which are directly in contact with them so that once again the degree of ignition of the charcoal bed is quite poor. In an attempt to obviate these problems with the commonly used ignition schemes "chimney" devices have been used. These are commonly in the shape of a hollow vertical cylinder (such as a coffee can) into which the charcoal briquets are placed. Air enters at the lower end of the cylinder, where combustible material is burned. A typical example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,732. In operation the combustible material at the lower end of the cylinder is ignited and the charcoal is thereafter ignited as the heat rises through the stacked charcoal inside the cylinder.
The chimney devices of the prior art have been found to have distinct disadvantages, however. (1) Most require some sort of fuel reservoir and utilize a flammable liquid fuel; a typical example is the burner shown in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,732. The hazards of using flammable liquid charcoal igniters are well known. (2) The chimney devices are conventionally made of metal, usually an inexpensive grade of sheet steel. Such metal containers are extremely inefficient in heat conservation and much of the heat derived from the combustion of the fuel is dissipated through the cylinder walls. The heat thus wasted is of course not available for its intended use, which is to ignite the charcoal. In addition, steel oxidizes at the temperatures of operation and the life of steel devices is thus quite limited. (3) The metal containers themselves become extremely hot and the user must handle them with special tongs, handles or some other device to remove them from the barbecue after the charcoal is ignited. If he were to try to handle a heated charcoal igniter with his bare hands, the user would probably suffer severe burns. Also, the hot metal container poses a severe risk to others (especially children) who may touch it before it has had time to cool off after it is removed from the barbecue. (4) Finally, many of the chimney igniter devices are of fairly complex construction. Some, for instance, require that the device be inverted to empty the ignited charcoal into the barbecue grill. Such complex configurations, of course, add to the initial cost of the device, make it difficult to use, and render it susceptible to malfunction in service.
It is an object of this invention to provide a charcoal igniting device which is very simple in design and can be readily and economically fabricated.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a device with a high thermal efficiency in which a very high proportion of the heat produced is utilized for igniting the charcoal.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a device which can be readily handled with the bare hands and which offers a high degree of safety to the user and others in its vicinity.
It is further an object of this invention to provide an igniter device which may be reused many times and with which there is virtually no opportunity for malfunction.
It is further an object of this invention to provide an igniter device which does not require the use of any flammable liquid or other hazardous substance.